Grinding-machine for manufacturing plate-glass.



H. S. HEIOHERT.

GRINDING MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING PLATE GLASS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1,1909. RENEWED JULY 16, 1913 1,089,92 Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

2 SHEETS--SHEET 1.

KI wrmsssss lNVENTOR H. S. HEICHERT.

GRINDING MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING PLATE GLASS.

APPLICATION TILED JUNE 1, 1909. "RENEWED JULY 18, 1913. 1,089,92%. Patented Mar. 10, 191i 2 SHE'ETFSHEBT 2.

WITNESSES INVENTQR QM MAW m STATES PATENT current? HERMAN s. HEICHERT, or FORD CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, AssiGnoit To riTT'siitriieH PLATE emss COMPANY, or rrr'rsnunen, PENNSYLVANIAQZA" ,ooBLIoReTIdii-i PENNSYLVANIA.

' GRINDING-MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING PLATE GBASS T all whom it may concern:

B e it known that I, HERMAN S. Hmciiicu'r, a..cit1zen of the United States, residing at Fordthty, in the county of Armstrong and "State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usetul Improvements in Grind- 1 g-Machin'es' :t'or l\/Ianufacturing Plate- Glass, of which the following is a specifica- 'tion.

This invention'has reference to an improved means for supporting the runners used in connection with the grinding tables of a plate glass grinding machine, and has for its. primary objects, the rovisioii of an apparatus of the class speci ed, which will permit of regulation of the pressure of, the

, -runners upon the glass with great accu acy nd'nicety, and allow the raising or lowering f the runners or the alteration of the pressure of the sameupon the glass to be obtained with great fa i y.

A further objectjo thisinvention is the p vision -of a fluid-pressure supporting m ns for the runnerspwith manually actiu ate apparatus for regulating the operation of aidsupportin'g means, whereby the work required to manipulate the runner will be ma erially reduced, and the facility and accuracy greatly increased.

A further object of.the invention is the provision of supporting means for the runners whereby the danger of fracturing the a screwthi-ead to shatter the glass.

glass during the grinding operation is reduced to a minimum.

In connection with the grinding tables heretofore used, which were for the most partof relatively small size. the runners have not been of very great weight, and were operated ,to be raised and lowered and to have their pressure upon the table adjusted by means of a cross-lever above, and

lever by the use of a, handvvhe'el manipulated by the operaton In using the apparatus it was necessary, in order to prevent undue breakage of the glass, 'to' start the table slowly and completely cover the glass with, a thick coating of sand: ino'rder t'iji'protect it, as irregularities the surface-of the glass such as high on such spots, tending weight of the runner In overcoming this I Specification of Letter s Patent. p t t q 4 Application f led June 1, 1909, Serial No. 499,594. Renewed m 16, 1913,. i, $753555.

device for actuating said cross-- ma Ii -n11) ditliculty eounterbalancing tanks o have been employed ,iir-zwhicl illtiyftVQtifiQlj-IMH out ot the tanks gradmillyeas tzlimgriirding i; progressed, but in the:use ohsueh;appairttus' it was found that when the t-anls n'eaulv counterbalanced the weight,of thenrunner and the table rotated'rapidly ii-slight bump on the glass coming undeiuth izuuneivwould,- cause the runner to moveiup1sharplvicll lilielv clearing the glass, the inertiamf thevlz innei' and counterweight being-combined so that. on the return movement the; runner would strike the glass a hard; blowsovitli,the coin bu ed inertia of the?runnerg-andiicblli tfi weight behind it, thus magnifying-the; tract-uring force of the blow 1 .2 m; woman This difficulty as to fracturinghas increased with the increase in'dhersizelo t; tables, and runners incident to thei requirements; of modern practice, ant a my! 1 in rIention-jrisn designed to do away witlrtliese .ditlic1tltaes;;by the provision of an apparatustsuohfas will permit the application 0f, the pressure'; of the runner in any desired a uount and': at the sametime resist thm'tiidencymof the runner to'oscillate violently antl,icracl the glass. This apparatusoibyl reasonmmt the elimination of the violentlnioi?emcntiittfi the runner permits the tnlbl eitosheystamed;utnfull speed withoutdanger ofi'ttracturingthelglass, thus reducing the time =nocessa'ry-rt'qrll inding. The a pparatus' also; docswaway; \uitlrgthe counterweight and thebailiiettcntgdue tjotits, inertia, as heretoforesetzfhrth. fi -w;

I preferably accomplish this rcsulgt l y'it-he use of floats. The weighuotithevtloats and decrease in the head o't iwatgniiii:uthe' ta iks due to the Upwardlil'OVQllltkIlb()1i*.;tyll llQzlljS; oppose the movement" theuruniiers' QYaV from the glass, while hemovement;soflgthe runners toward the i "isgopposcd lgyjihe inertia of, the wate'rq displaccclnupward: by the floats and by tlldlltl'tltISQilll llettd qfgtlla water in the float eartyingitankse dueiitoi the downward movement" 'o't the r 'fioa-ts, whicli causes the resistance to-the downward movement of the floats to increaseasthoirirnpers move d f: 5 in: 151m; mtiiii-1i \Vhile the float means abovewrefeifued to and herein described constitute"thepreferred form of my invent-io'rifit iwill benii'iderstood that other constiuctitins'i'iha y beiemploved for accomplishing the? sam'e'result,and that my invention eomprehends broadly any and all arrangements wherein. any movement of the runner toward, the table caused by the rotation ofthe tabl'ewill be resisted yieldingly at anjincreasing rate as the runner moves down, and the lQl68SI1I8-l36tWEfill the glass and, runner; correspondingly reduced.

One embodiment of the invention 'isillustratcd in the accompanying drawings where- Figural is a side elevation partly-in section, of 'a mechanism embodyingmy inn.

' provement;

' Figure 2 is a sectional detail of, the valve actuating device which may be used, and

Figure 3is a planw'iew of the apparatus indicatin'g'the location of the more essential parts.

Referring {now more particularly to Figure 1,- it will be seen that I have-therein shown 'a grinding 'table labove which are mounted a couple .of runners one of which is shown at 5, said runners being located as is customary in this class of apparatus.

-Adjoining the runners 5 there is a support ing post 6 and a crossbar-7, which latter is- 'a portion of the stationary frame-work and,

to which. there are secured. a couple of stationary tanks 8 held in. place above the runnen. I 7

As a means for carrying the weight of the runner I provide an .inner suspension tube 9' together with the outer casing tube 10, and

attach such suspension devices by'lneans of a swivel or revolving joint, which will be later more specifically described, to a cross bar ll that is rested upon or is supported by a couple of'floats 12, one in each of the tanks 8.

The floats 12 andthe'tanksS arevmade of, sufiicient height and size to afford the requisite degree of buoyancy or support .for the runners 5, and as a means for admitting fluid-pressure to the tanks 8 I provide the inlet tube or pipe 13' controlled by means of the operating or regulating valve 14:, the

presssure preferably employed being hy draulic.

To provide a guide whichwill-avold lateral swaying of the floats 12 I arrange within the center of each of said floats a ,vertical' guide-bar or upright post 15 surrounded by a tube 15 movable with the float, dispensing with any stufling-box. The floats and of the supporting column, by -ineans of a bearing bushing 16 of usual construction, the latter being-providedwith anoiling recessl7 and any suitable protecting devices t-o keep the dirt out of the bearing. At the upper end the rod or tube '9 issecured .a thrust collar or'bearing 18 that rests upon an anti-friction ring 19 which in turn is supported by a kind." of universal wed e shaped supporting bearing. 20 carrietlupon. the upper surface, of the collar 21 that is' suspended by means of two rods 22 andithe pins 23 from the cross bar-11 which in turn rests upon the floats l2by means of suitable cross-bar supports 24.

As a means for changing the angular position of the runner, that is to tilt the run ner slightly so that it will (as the term is used in" the art) bite in grinding on the -table, or sothat it will in other words have a slight variance from "parallel position rela tive to the surface of the table, I provide means indicated inlf igure whereby the part. supporting the :upper end of the runner shaft can be moved laterally along the bar 28 without interferipgwith the buoyant action ofthe floats 1-2.] The specific mechanism employed for shifting the position of the bearing of the'upper end of the runner supporting shaft is not essential-to my pres ent invention, as any preferred devices suitable forthis purpose may be employed, it being only necessary that the change in po sition ofthe said bearing parts at the upper endof the runner shaft should not interfere with the free movement of the shaftin the driving or grinding action of" the table, and should not in turn, interfere with the floating effect or buoyant action of the hydraulic means which I employ for carrying the weight of the runners.

The operation of my improvement is as follows: The parts being substantially as shown in Figure 1, with the valve 147 in position indicated in Figure 2., fluid will pass through the pipe '13 and enter the tank 8 and rise in said tank around the float 12 .to such a point that it will at last lift the float. 12 and carry upward with it the run ner 5, taking all the-weight of-said runner away from the table and raisingitout of contact wit-h the glass on the table.

Whennow-it is desired to start the grinding operation, the valve 14 may be shifted to close the direct passage supplying fluid to the ,pipe 13, and to open the small port 3.0 which will allow a small quantity of water to escape from the tanks 8 and by that much reduce the buoyant effect on the runners and allow the runners to descend in contact w1th the glass, and of course the more water there is allowed to escape from the passage.

1:10 the more of the weight of the runners 5 will rest upon the glass below, and thus the small aperture 30 and the fluid-pressure rosaaza means cop'perating therewith afl'ord a device which will permit of the regulation of the pressure of the runners upon the glass,

smoothed.

with the greatest nicety, and also of the gradual increase in pressure upon the glass, without danger of breaking the latter.

It will be seen'that the foregoing means 'lifting effect of the water reduced so that the pressure between the glass and the runner is increased, thus increasing the grinding efl'ect and reducing the reverse momentum and consequently the tendency to fracture the glass when the runner returns to its normal position. On the other hand when the unevenness of the glass tends to permit the runner to drop below its normal pogage 32 whiclrmay be located at any consition, the movementof the runner down is resisted by the inertia of the water in the tank. In order to permit the float'to move down the level of the water in the tank must move up accordingly, and the inertia of the water thus moved up retards the downward movement of the runner. Furthermore the floats'occupy a large proportion of the space in the tanks so that a slight downward movement of a float involves a much greater upward shifting movement of the level of thewater in the tank and the increased head correspondingly increases the pressure of the water'against the .bottom of the float. As a result, the momentum of the runner downward is checked, relieving the pressure between the runner and glass and reducing the danger of fracturing the glass to such an extent'that the apparatus may be started at full speed instead of at a very slow speed as is now necessary with the apparatus in common use not provided with the yielding resistance means.

'While I have shown a slngle valve 14 for controlling the various operations of the fluid, it is evident that different valves could be used if desired, a small drain valve being" employed to bleed out the pressure gradually to gradually increase the weight of the runner upon. the glass, and a separate valve with larger openings used tq allow the pressure to flow in to raise the runner or to quickly lower the runner in case it is desired to lower it more rapidly.

As a means for determining the amount of pressure resting upon the glass, 1 provide a venient place, and. serves to indicate tho height or pressure of water in the tank 8,

which will of course be-inversel :p'ropbijtional to the amount of weightof t manner {3 upon the glass. The gage32 bieiifigplaced in some convenient o'r conspicuous 'ositioir it is obvious that the immune a1" ejoi the plant, in passing-along can at ag "lice ascertain the amountof pressure that is'be ing used by the workman, updntheftable,

As the bars on the under-sideoFthe ners wear down it is with old apparatus a matter of great ditficulty toguge'thehhiount of pressure exerted by the runner :lrgOHWhe glass, whereas with my apparatus; y arnploying markers on the gageitisQdssibldrgt regardless of the amount of wearflor other condition of the runners and runner bars, to determine with certalnty and :greatmcety the exact amount of pressure that is being exerted upon the glass; Thus for example if a certain height or pressure of .water is sufiicient for the runners when the bars are f new or but little worn, a reduction in height of said four feet will give the requisite pressure desired under certain conditions, and said four feet reduction in height, of the water will give exactly the same amount of pressure regardless of the initial point at which the level of water stood when the runner was exerting no pressure upon the lass.

I-Iavingthus described my inventionfland illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. In apparatus for grindin plate glass, a table for carrying the glass p ate, a runner mounted above the table, a tank, a float therein connected to the runner, and means for su plying fluid to the tankand thereby contro ling the pressure of the runner upon the glass plate.

2. In apparatusior grinding plate glass, a table for carrying the glass a mounted above the table, a pair oi tanks, a pair of floats guided therein and connected to the runner, and means for supplying fluid to the tank and thereby control ing the pressure of the runner upon the glass plate.

3. A runner for glass grinding apparatus, provided' with supporting means coin? rising a pair of hydraulic floats and a cross ar, with means. suspending said runner from said cross bar, and means for controlling the hydraulic pressure operating on said floats to determine the. pressure of the runner upon the glass.

4. A runner for glass grinding apparato, a runner tus, provided with supporting means com;

prising an hydraulic float, means for controlling the hydraulic pressure operating ()1.

upon.

5. apparatus for grinding surfaces, 21 rotnnlyflriven table for carrying the member havmg the surface to be ground, a rotatable runner mounted above the table'and exerting pressure downward thereon due 'to' down.

6. Iii-apparatus for grinding surfaces, a

room driven table for carrying the mem bar havingthe' surface to be ground, a rotatable runner mounteii above the-table and exe ting pressure downward tl'iereon due to its veight and driven by the table, yielding resistance means opposing the downward movement of the runner and increasing in amount as the :runner moves down, and

meens whereby the yielding resistance is reduced luring the grindii'zg operation. I g

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my maintain the presence of two. sub scribed Witnesses.

HERMAN s. HEI CHERT.

Witnesses HARVEY L. 'LECHNER, ARoHWoRTH MARTIN. 

